Power Of Attorney And Probate

[sigma]

I have POA of my father's finances who has recently passed away. Can I still continue to pay creditors or do I have to wait till probate has been granted.

[woofgang]

POA ends at death but are you the executor? both when I lost my mother and my DH, the bank allowed disbursement of amounts of money that were essential. People like the utility companies and credit card companies understood the situation and had no problem waiting until probate was granted. Tall to the bank and to the creditors.

[jake-the-peg]

Yep

You have to tell the banks - go see them with a copy of the death cert and they'll freeze the account.

Tell the utilities etc. mostly a photocopy of the death cert will do them - it's obviously a very regular occurence for them and they're set up to deal with it.

I've been dealing with my father's in a similar way - it's been pretty easy.

You shouldn't have made any payments under POA after he died - if you did don't panic as long as it wasn't a large amount it probably won't be a big deal